Festival defied council to run
Organisers of the three-day Shipwrecked music and arts festival in Te Arai were told by Auckland Council they couldn’t hold the event, but went ahead anyway.
Unexpectedly a ‘‘dry’’ event after organisers ran out of time to get a liquor licence, it appears organisers had no resource consent either, and went ahead despite a council abatement notice.
Site landowner Arnim Pierau doesn’t believe he and other event organisers, The Greatest Show on Earth, were treated fairly by Auckland Council.
‘‘Our applications were made within given timeframes,’’ he said. Opposition by neighbours and the Ngaroto Lakes Society under limited notification extended the time needed to process the liquor licence.
This, after evidence provided by the objectors, was found to be sufficient enough to warrant a District Licensing Committee hearing.
‘‘It would have been nice to have had alcohol on site, and would have made a tonne of money, but this type of event doesn’t rely on alcohol,’’ he said organisers able to cancel the ordered alcohol.
Along with exceeding annual event days allowed, the resource consent for the festival, also ran out of time.
Pierau had no objection to giving people the right to voice their opinion, but said, in this instance, it hadn’t been helpful.
‘‘Everywhere, when people can’t get what they want, they pull out a rare lizard,’’ he said
The event was much noisier than last year, according to Lance Gravatt of the Ngaroto Lakes Society, and some residents complained of disturbed sleep.
Protecting the sensitive ecology in the lakes area, and the Australasian bittern, was behind their objections, Gravatt said.
The bittern recently became critically endangered, with fewer than 1000 birds nationally. It now carries the same classification as the fairy tern, and kakapo.
‘‘The next classification after critically endangered is extinct,’’ he said.
The society, formed last year after the Environment Court declined most of Pierau’s application to significantly increase events on his property.
Council has yet to decide on any punitive action, compliance investigations team manager Kerri Fergusson said.